This month we are going to give prizes and evolution dollars to players that make video trailers about the shard and post them to YouTube

1st Place = 1000ED
2nd Place = 500ED
3rd Place = 250ED

Every submission that meets the criteria and is used will be given a prize for the effort!

The video must contain the following elements:

*Shard Name and logo – UO Evolution “The Game has Evolved”
*Shard website address – www.uoevolution.com
*key words tagged in the description and title
*Length must be between 1-3 minutes
*Themed music

Examples of what I would like to see:

*Show the highlights of the shard (see shard description on the website)
*Show the new graphics/buildings/monsters
*show a triple champ or epic event?
After you create the video post it here on the forums for review

We will run this contest until we get 10 submissions and then players will vote for the winner

I didn’t mean to scare you with the ominous title! This is actually a joyous announcement!

I was reminded today that is has been exactly 365 days since the “Evil Developer/Kia Car Salesman” was defeated! It is truly wonderful to see the land and it’s community continue to prosper since his demise!

I want to take a moment to thank our developer, Kane for all of his super tech skills and dedication to UO Evolution, not just in the recovery of the shard, but in his continued development of the content each week that is second to none! Take a moment to review all of the new content in Dev Logs and you will appreciate all the incredible changes he has made this year! http://uoevolution.com/wiki/index.php/UOE_Development_Logs

As stated by the wise player Loial, “This shard and staff really is better than the original!”

The staff really does take pride in being the #1 Custom Ultima Online Freeshard! We also realize much of the success of the shard comes from the community support of this project and we could not do it without you all!

Last month we hit 368 players online for the auction which was a new, all-time player online record! I expect we will see close to 400 online for the Memorial Day/Armageddon Weekend events and auction!

Join us for a fun-filled weekend with all your friends on UO Evolution!

UO Evolution Ultima Online free shard has added an extensive amount of New Samurai Empire content to compliment the original SE:UO expansion.

The UOE team has been working on creating new buildings, monsters and systems to enhance the limited content from the original UO:SE expansion that was released by UO back in 2004.

The original reviews about the Samurai Empire expansion were not great, so it was always our intent, as developers, to make this new addition have engaging, relevant content that enhanced the Asian theme.

There are no other UO freeshards that have this expansion and this exclusive content is what sets UO Evolution apart from the other free shards

———-Original Samurai Empire Expansion Features———-

Samurai Empire is the sixth expansion of Ultima Online. It adds unique Japanese-themed content, such as the new Ninja and Samurai professions, as well as a new land mass, the Tokuno Islands

*Become a Samurai Master
Dedicate yourself to the art of Bushido, with powerful new skills and
deadly new weapons.

*Join an Elite Ninja Clan
Submit to the discipline of Ninjitsu, mastering stealth, deception, and the art of assassination.

*Adventure on a New Continent
Explore a new Japanese-themed land filled with scenic housing areas,
mythical creatures, monsters, dungeons, and more.

*Lay Claim to Exotic New Treasures
New weapons, armor, clothing, house tiles, magic, and more will reward the adventurous.

*Powerful New Guild Systems
Create a guild, set up ranks, declare wars on other guilds, and set win conditions. Recruiting guildmates and increasing your power have never been easier.

———-New Samurai Empire Expansion Features———-

New Temples and Dojos
There are 8 new dojos/temples to locate and explore

Breakable Doors
The doors at each dojo are “breakable doors” and must be attacked and broken down to enter the area. The doors each have hit points and regenerate over time.

Emperor’s Palace
The Emperor palace was inspired by Qin Shi Huang and theTerracotta Army

Belt of Tokuno – Blackbelt System

This unique Black Belt System is exclusive to UO Evolution. You start by hunting and collecting ancestral cloth, then craft the basic white belt. You then journey to each dojo and defeat the opponents to earn experience that will change the color of your belt from white all the way up to the black belt.

As your belt increases in power, the belt color will change at each stage as follows.

The world of Ultima Online continues to expand year after year, fueled by fan support and an ongoing sense of community. The latest expansion, Samurai Empire, adds more than just samurai and ninja professions. Indeed, it adds substantially to the Ultima mythos itself: a new virtue will be rolled out, “Honor.” How did it come about, and what’s the process this new game addition goes through from start to finish? Game Programmer EvilMantis tells us in his own words how it all went down.>>>Read More

In our last Ultima Online: Samurai Empire designer diary, we looked at how the new “honor” virtue was integrated into the game. This week, as the expansion is preparing to ship, we’ve invited art director Walter Ianneo to talk about the artistic decisions made with the new expansion. Unlike much of the Ultima universe, Samurai Empire is rooted in a specific history and culture. Does feudal Japan mix with Ultima Online as smoothly as peanut butter and jelly? We went straight to the source!>>>Read More

Ultima Online: Samurai Empire has at last gone gold, meaning that it’s on its way to store shelves as you read this. Over the last several weeks we’ve been tracing its progress from a gleam in a game designer’s eye to the finished product. In the first diary we looked at how the new “honor” virtue was created and implemented. From there we talked to Art Director Walter Ianneo about the artistic style of the game. And now, this week, Game Designer Jennifer Lane ties it all together by describing for us the (sometimes painful) process of rolling a game out. Read on to discover just what keeps the team going during the long hours>>>Read More

Ultima Online: Samurai Empire Q&A – Overview

Ultima Online, which was launched in 1997 and continues to draw in devoted adventurers night after night, even to this day. EA Games and the recently relocated Ultima team are now hard at work producing the next expansion pack for the game. Samurai Empire will add all-new character classes, housing options, and lands to explore.>>>Read More

Ultima Online: Samurai Empire – PC – Review

The Land of Feudal Lords, otherwise known as the Takuno Islands, serves as the new territory for this expansion to the Ultima universe. It was hinted at in the first Ultima title, and expanded upon with new classes, a new guild system, as well as the usual array of new territories to explore and new monsters to kill.>>>Read More